Category: Testimonies

Last Friday I had the opportunity to pay more attention to God’s angel-messages than despair, and it saved me!

This is what happened. I enjoy playing the recorder, a wooden musical instrument, and was on my way to join a group of fellow recorder-players in a rehearsal and evening playing session. I just had time to stop for a quick dinner, and I chose a well-known hamburger place. Unfortunately, upon returning to my car, I found that someone had smashed in the window and taken my bag of many recorders and another bag with some sailing gear. It was a shock to see this loss, as it hadn’t even occurred to me that these might seem an attractive target. There was a security guard in the parking lot, and he said that this happened right when he took a brief break, and that they had broken his car window, too, taking his backpack. I called the police, who were sorry to hear it, but not able to come out for a few hours, offering the option to report the loss online.

Right when I first saw this, I asked God for an idea, and this is what came: “Nothing of value can be taken from you.” I understood this to mean that since my being is spiritual, and the substance of everything I love is also spiritual, that is why nothing of value could be taken from me. Eternal ideas, true substance, cannot be taken. The security guard suggested I look in nearby dumpsters, as the contents of the bags were not likely what the window-breakers were seeking. This seemed like a reasonable idea to me, so as I looked in nearby dumpsters, I kept cherishing this message: Nothing of value can be taken from me. I also prayed to see that nothing of value could be taken from the one who thought they could benefit by stealing: not their honesty, integrity, purpose, self-worth, or conscious connection with God. I knew I needed to love them as God’s pure child.

After an unsuccessful search, I decided to go down the road a bit to look in behind some nearby buildings in their trash… but no recorders. I stopped to pray more earnestly, rejecting the temptation to mentally catalog the considerable financial loss and give in to woe and sorrow. It seemed like the best thing to do was go home to continue in steadfast prayer, so I began driving that direction.  Very shortly, a call came on my cell phone. I pulled over, and the caller said, “This is kind of a funny thing to ask, but do you have a bag of recorders?” “YES!” I answered. She said someone had thrown three bags on her lawn, and one was my bag of recorders. A second was my sailing bag. She had found a name tag in the bag, Googled the name, and found my phone number on my website. She gave me her address, and I was there in less than ten minutes. Nothing was missing from either of my two bags. The third belonged to the security guard, and I called the hamburger place so he could know to come retrieve his bag, also.

I did go on to play my recorders that evening, with such a heart full of gratitude and joy! I feel the decision to abandon the recorders where there was a possibility they could be recovered (rather than in a dumpster heading for landfill) was the Christ speaking to that individual. I feel the whole episode was really an unusual request for prayer on the part of that individual, and I continue to pray for him. Nothing of value can be taken from me, or from him, either. Thank you to God!!!

Several weeks ago a phrase kept coming to my thought. Day and night it would not leave me. It was: “I will heal thee of thy hardness.” I felt it was a message directed to me from infinite Mind, and I thought I recognized it from a hymn. I focused on the idea “I will heal thee”, to me meaning that God is the healer. I could relax! I didn’t have to come up with some perfect phrase. God is the healer. I mentioned this idea to a church friend, and she found the hymn containing that phrase, number 278 in the Christian Science Hymnal. Here is the verse:

Healed is thy hardness, His love hath dissolved it,
Full is the promise, the blessing how kind;
So shall His tenderness teach thee compassion,
So all the merciful, mercy shall find.

I had been concerned with a large hardness (about the size of a tennis ball, it seemed) in my abdomen. It was not normal. It caused me discomfort at times but was not particularly painful. I wanted to demonstrate Christian Science healing, and because I was not in what I would call critical condition, I felt I had the “closet time” to do this. I have benefited so much from the testimonies, from the Shared Reflections Lecture Series in the Journal as well as other articles in the periodicals, I can’t begin to thank the writers of each contribution. In this case, it all came together with: “I shall heal thee of thy hardness.” I know no physical problem actually exists in God’s presence, but is just a reflection of seeing things outside of truth. When in a recent testimony a man realized “There is no pain in Truth” (Science and Health, p. 113), I thought deeply about what that meant to me and to everyone. I realized the hardness I seemed to be feeling simply represented self-justification, anger, etc., expressed over many years.

Well, God has healed me. The hardness has just gone. I cannot express enough gratitude for all that the Christ, Truth, has brought to us and to Mary Baker Eddy for her tireless efforts to share her discovery of the laws of healing with mankind, and for all those who have followed her teachings and have shared their experiences.

I was planning on going to the Christian Science Church but had trouble getting out of bed, due to a migraine headache. Painfully, I got washed up, dressed, and went to church. Gone were the plans to swim first, eat a bite, and get there early.  I was lucky to get there about twenty minutes into the service. I walked in and sat down on a chair by the door. The usher was standing by the stairs up to the chapel area.  I just sat there.  After a few minutes, I motioned him to the side, and told him my issue. He kindly shared some ideas with me about his friend that had had the same problem, and how turning to God’s love relieved him. I sat down, and literally, within a few minutes, maybe five, the headache was suddenly gone. I got up and climbed the stairs to the chapel. I went up front to sit with my friend who I usually attend church with. She smiled at me, I smiled back, and felt very energized, happy, and grateful to be at the Christian Science Church. She obviously had no idea whatsoever that anything had been wrong with me at all. I am sure that the usher who spoke with me when this happened can completely corroborate this story of a sudden healing.

M.P.

I am so grateful to God for all good, and that even if we think progress is slow, nevertheless God still has the final (and only) say.

One day, I noticed a hard part growing on one foot.  After a while it began hurting when I would walk, as if it were a cut that would not heal.  I prayed some about it, but there seemed no improvement over several months.  I remembered my mom had had similar difficulties, and that was discouraging, as I thought it might be hereditary.

About this time, I was praying deeply to understand God’s presence and power more, not just to try to alleviate this foot problem, but to help some others with some problems they were facing.  There were times of just whole-hearted agreement with God as the only source, that He is completely good, and that man is his perfect expression.  From time to time I would think of or feel this foot problem, and I would quietly declare that because God is all, this is a 3-D mistaken view about me, and I did not have to accept it.

I am delighted to say, that the sharp, hard part stopped hurting, then disappeared completely.  Worrying about it hadn’t helped, nor had trying to ignore it.  I believe it was wiped out by the consistent turning to Love’s government and view.  Thank you, God, for your care of all of us!

ALK

My 95-year-old mother lives in a Christian Science community about 500 miles from me. She has had a few falls over recent years, with good healings each time. Last November she fell again in her apartment. The community staff and a local Christian Science nurse gave her initial help until I could fly down to be with her. She was troubled with severe back pain that made walking extremely difficult, and lying down/getting up painfully hard. I was a practical and metaphysical support for several days, and we used a walker and wheelchair to get around the apartment.

Progress wasn’t being made, however. And that weekend, I was scheduled to fly East for my annual Christian Science Association meeting, an inspiring event my mother did not want me to miss. The Christian Science nurses on call in the area weren’t available for the kind of full-time help she needed. And Mother objected strongly to the other logical option — a Christian Science nursing facility. (“You just go there to die” was her view!) Her care was of course my first priority, and I turned in prayer to God to open the way for a solution that would bless us both, giving her the care she needed and allowing me to attend my meeting — if that were the right course.

One day I was talking to the local Christian Science nurse for suggestions on care, and mentioned the nursing facility as not an option. She immediately said that the facility would be the ideal place for Mother, not only for the loving care she’d receive but also as getting her away from her routine and provide a “metaphysical kickstart” to the healing. Mother had a high respect for this woman’s opinion, and when I shared these thoughts, she quietly agreed to go. We had to transport her to the car in a wheelchair and she was wheeled to her lovely room at the facility when she arrived. She was very receptive to the spiritual atmosphere and delighted by the care (and food!) provided. She was soon touring the facility in a walker, and within the week, able to return home — without a wheelchair. A full-time caregiver was available when she returned, and within a couple of days, she was free of the walker, and needed only a few hours of daytime care. She continues to walk freely without any aid. I’m so grateful for the provision of the nursing facilities (that they are actually places to live and progress), and the clear-sighted confidence the nurses display in guiding patients toward healing.

CO

Two different people I interacted with recently noticed something unusual about me, with both using the phrase,”I see you have something going on here.”  Well, maybe so, but the double comment made me stop at the beginning of the week and write down in my Christian Science Quarterly next to the subject, “Unreality”, What is going on?  After that I wrote, Anger or peace?  Hatred or love?  Frustration or patience? Material bondage or spiritual freedom?  Poor material vision or clarity of sight?  Imprisoned in matter or completely free in Spirit?  So, I pondered these contrasts all week long, but by Saturday morning I had come to accept that for a couple of days my left hip and leg were sore from a groin pull, and that morning my right hip indicated some issue.  Early that Saturday morning I was replacing flowers in the church and had a few minutes to look at the Bible Lesson.  I didn’t get much farther than the Golden Text, from 1 John: “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. ” I reasoned that means:

God is Love and there is no hatred at all.
God is Spirit and there is no matter at all.
God is Life and there is no death at all.
God is Soul and there is no ugliness at all.
God is Truth and there is no inharmony at all.
God is Principle and there is no disorder at all.

I did write and think about other qualities, but this was the gist.  It was 9:00 AM before I knew it, and time to head to a tennis game I was scheduled to play in.  When it was over, I realized I had not felt so much as a tweak during the match and that my legs were moving in accord with God’s quality of grace in action.

I am so very grateful to God for His goodness, not just for restored harmony of leg movement, but restored harmony of thought-movement!
HF

One of the hymns at a Wednesday evening testimony meeting really resonated with me.  I hadn’t sung/read it for some time and found the message inspirational.  For several days following the service, I prayed with it each day.  Christian Science Hymnal, #406:

O Love, our Mother, ever near,
To Thee we turn from doubt and fear!
In perfect peace our thoughts abide;
Our hearts now in this truth confide: Man is the child of God.

O Light, in Thy light we can see
That man is ever one with Thee.
In love our lives Thou dost enfold
And now our waiting hopes behold That man is God’s own child.

O joy that ever will remain,
Midst seeming sorrow, hate and pain,
Our hearts to fill with this glad song
That soars above the mists of wrong: Man is the loved of Love.

The following Saturday I enjoyed a lovely day hiking with friends.  Shortly after returning home, I suddenly felt extremely ill.  My entire body was painful.  I turned immediately to this hymn and was comforted by Love’s tender care for me. I felt Love’s infinite presence that dissolves all unlike itself.  I affirmed that peace is inherent in man as God’s reflection, the expression of Soul, another name for God, thus nothing can disturb nor disrupt that peace and normal functioning.  After praying for about an hour, all pain left as quickly as it had come.

My gratitude to God for His omnipotence and omnipresence is unbounded.

NH

One evening while I was preparing for bed I suddenly felt a lot of pain.  I immediately turned to God for help and began praying with the ideas in the Scientific Statement of Being, one of my favorite paragraphs in Science and Health (p. 468).  I then began to think about the answer to the question, “What is man?” also in Science and Health (p. 475).  I began to feel calmer, but was still very uncomfortable.  I asked God to help me and to tell me what I needed.  I heard, “Be still.”  This was quite a request because I was so uncomfortable that I couldn’t seem to sit still.  But I made myself stop moving.  I remembered the beautiful solo that was sung at my sister’s wedding, which is from a verse in Psalms, “Be still, and know that I am God.”  As I was being comforted by the words in the solo, I heard, “I am able to impart….” I recognized this phrase as a statement in Mrs. Eddy’s writings but wasn’t exactly sure of the whole passage.  I knew it said something like “I am able to impart health and happiness.” I realized that it is man’s purpose to impart (communicate, make public, proclaim, give, bestow) health and happiness.  And man is able to do it because he reflects the ability to do it.  I am not personally the source of the ability to impart.  That was a relief.  And why, I asked, do we have this purpose?  And the answer came – to glorify God.  Our whole reason for existing is to glorify Him in everything we think, in everything we say, and in everything we do.  This increased understanding of man’s whole purpose for being, of my purpose, filled me with joy.  I promised to begin to question and examine everything I did.  Is this glorifying God?  How is what I am doing glorifying God?  I was so absorbed in promising God I would do this that when I checked back, I realized the pain had just turned off, as suddenly as it had started.  I was so grateful! The next morning I looked up the statement that had come to me.  It is from First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 165 and it reads, “Thus may each member of this church rise above the oft-repeated inquiry, What am I? to the scientific response: I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness and this is the rock of my salvation and my reason for existing.” My reason for existing. The very reason man exists is to impart – to make known, to exemplify what God is.  And how do I do that?  By making sure that I am living as close to Him in thought and action as I can.  That day I questioned myself often, and identified the spiritual qualities in each activity I was doing.  I even caught myself when I felt impatient with a boy in my son’s swim class. The question practically yelled in my thought, And how is this thinking glorifying God? Woops!  Since then I have challenged myself to continue this, and I am happy to say I am catching thoughts that aren’t consistent with my purpose to glorify God.  I am also more conscious of God and am in better touch with Him as I go about my day.  What a wonderful healing!  I am very grateful.

H.B.